Customer Reviews

Too Many Cooks/Champagne for One (Nero Wolfe Mysteries)

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I love these new editions of Nero Wolfe mysteries. Not only do they offer two-for-one tales, but they have added features like introductions on each story and original notes, maps, and letters from the author and editors. Nice to get all these behind-the-scenes details.

In this collection we learn a very valuable lesson: When Nero or Archie are invited guests, you better expect murder on the menu! Of course, these books are full of the usual banter, Archie quips, and memorable observations from the third-ton genius himself, which we have all grown to love. But we also have a few extra-special dishes on the menu, such as the ultra-rare event of Wolfe leaving his sanctum-as-house.

Read and enjoy or risk becoming a witling.

Nero Wolfe, the dour prince of classic detectives, with his man about town, and biographer, Archie Goodwin at his side to tell his stories have been a constant delight on our shelves for many years. They are worth reading and re-reading every few years. This is classic, solved by wit rather than guts, blood and gore mystery story. This combo is two of Stout's best. The second was portrayed in A&E's Nero Wolfe Mystery Series, with Timothy Hutton and Maury Chakin as Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe. Very true to the Stout writings and style. Great dialog and setting, and a lot of fun. Nice, light reading.

Twenty years elapsed between the publication of "Too Many Cooks" (1938) and "Champagne for One" (1958), the former near the beginning of Rex Stout's career as a writer of crime fiction -- he'd already pursued more careers than most of us even aspire to -- and the latter not yet close to the end, with 18 to go! Stout (1886-1975) wrote the first 'Nero Wolfe' novel in 1934, after retiring in his forties with some wealth from the world of banking. In all, he wrote 73 novels depicting his slothful sleuth, the gargantuan gourmand and orchid fancier Nero Wolfe. Wow! And there are people who've read every one of them!

But the years and the commercial success took a toll on Rex Stout's literary skills. "Too Many Cooks" is a brilliantly stylish, highly original book, crisp, witty, and compelling intellectually, with the added bonus of some serious social content. Fictional detective Nero Wolfe, the ultimate New York elitist, turns out to have been a thoroughgoing liberal about race at a time when even his fellow New Yorker - you know, "that man!" in the White House - wasn't. I would rank "Too Many Cooks" as one of the few real 'classics' of popular crime fiction; I've already reviewed it separately. "Champagne for One" is a throwaway, totally formulaic, neither as stylish in language nor as vivid in character portrayal as the earlier book. It's the sort of pop novel one reads when one doesn't want to engage in thought of any sort. The two don't belong on the same shelf, let alone in the same volume, in terms of interest. I suppose they've been linked because of the "food and drink" descriptions in both, but even in that vein, the earlier book surpasses the later as much as "tournedos Rossini" would surpass "chicken-fried steak."

All of the Nero Wolfe books are keepers. Curl up in a chair and find yourself in NYC solving mysteries and living the good life!

'Too Many Cooks' is in the top 3 of Wolfe novels. One of the best complex chains of detection and reasoning in all the books [though bordering on far-fetched]. Wolfe stands up [well, sits up] pretty vigorously as a non-racist--impressive for 1938. Two beguiling women, at least one great smart-alecky line by Archie, a good food mystery, Wolfe reasonably funny....

'Champagne...' is good, probably in the top quarter of Wolfe books. Archie does some deduction himself; Wolfe juggles character entrances very well; the murder is really impossible, and its solution accordingly strains credulity, but there sure isn't any other way the murder could have occurred.